This story is part of ESPN The Magazine's Oct. 31 NBA Preview Issue. Subscribe today!
Philadelphia Flyers
Overall: 58
Title track: 66
Ownership: 24
Coaching: 55
Players: 56
Fan relations: 35
Affordability: 88
Stadium experience: 56
Bang for the buck: 101
Change from last year: +23
The Flyers, those perennial playoff-makers -- outside of a five-year drought in the early '90s, Philadelphia has never missed the postseason in consecutive years -- were not supposed to make the cut last year. And then, on the second-to-last day of the season, they clinched a spot anyway. So what does a second-half surge (20-9-6 after the All-Star break) and a surprise playoff berth buy you? In Philadelphia, it's good for combined leaps of 147 spots up all of our rankings.
What's good
Ed Snider, the man who brought hockey to the city of Philadelphia 50 years ago, owner of the Flyers since the day they first skated down Broad Street, died in April, just one day after the team put the finishing touches on its unexpected run. It's not often that the suits in the suites endear themselves to the nobodies in the nosebleeds, but Snider -- whose enthusiasm and drive to bring the Stanley Cup back to Philly rivaled even the most fervent Flyers fan's -- managed just that feat. Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that just about six months after his passing, Philadelphia posthumously named the team's ownership as its most favorable asset in our rankings: No. 24 overall.
What's bad
Fans leave the Wells Fargo Center with their wallets a little too light, it seems: A night out in South Philly runs Flyers fans $104.73, on average. That is sixth highest in the NHL and 20 percent higher than the league average. Philly fans just aren't sold that the on-ice product warrants sky-high prices, though -- the team's No. 88 ranking in affordability gives way to an even more dire No. 101 in bang for the buck. Too many early-round playoff exits, too few Lord Stanley sightings. But can they interest you in a $170, gold-tinged, much-derided 50th anniversary jersey?
What's new
Craig Berube for two years here. Peter Laviolette for four years there. John Stevens for three years here. Ken Hitchcock for three years there. Have the Flyers finally found a coach that will stick ... and stick for good? Dave Hakstol, on the precipice of Year 2 with the club, is the beneficiary of the Flyers' largest leap in this year's standings -- 40 slots, from No. 95 in 2015 to No. 55 in 2016 -- and might just have the fans' buy-in. Pro tip, Dave: Get the notoriously slow-starting Flyers humming from the jump this season, and you just might feel the brotherly love all year long.
Next: Buffalo Sabres | Full rankings